Activities on regional and the European

Committee of the Regions’s level

Władysław Ortyl

Marshal of the Podkarpackie Region

Member of the European Committee of the Regions

Existing forms of cooperation for the Carpathians

• Carpathian Convention• Carpathian Euroregion• Carpathians Interregional Group

in the European Committee of Regions

• Economic Forum in Krynica• Local communities initiatives• Cooperation with science

community• Forum of Carpathian Communes• Local Development Forum• Interreg and European

Neighborhood Instrument Programs

• Carpathian Days of Good Neighbourhood

➢ initiative of the Marshal of the Podkarpackie Region

➢ First meeting September 2018 (Podkarpackie Region, Zakarpatska Oblast)

„Meeting on the border –Carpathian Days of Good Neighborhood”

Participants: Poland, Ukraine

debate on interregional cooperation for the sustainable development of the Carpathians

Carpathian Days of Good Neighbourhood –Meeting of the Carpathian Regions

Second meeting August 2019 (Muczne - Podkarpackie Region, Zakarpatska Oblast)

➢ Second meeting August 2019 (Muczne - Podkarpackie Region, Zakarpatska Oblast)

• On this year, in addition to partners from Ukraine, other Carpathian regions from Hungary, Slovakia and Romania took part in this event

• informal meeting of the European Committee of the Regions interregional Carpathians group

• plans for the future: participation of all Carpathian regions in the meeting with the involvement of the Carpathian Convention

GENERAL INFORMATION

➢ group set up in February 2016 by Mr Władysław Ortyl

➢ first meeting in December 2016

➢ 28 members from 4 national delegations:

➢ representation of 4 from 5 political groups:

➢ the group's secretariat is run by the representative office of the Podkarpackie Region in Brussels

Carpathians Interregional Group in the European Committee of the Regions

MEETINGS

➢ meetings of interregional groups of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) take place on the occasion of Plenary Sessions (max. 6 times a year)

➢ The European Committee of the Regions provides simultaneously interpretation only twice a year

➢ active participation in the meetings of representatives of regions and Permanent Representations of the Carpathian countries to the EU, Ministries, experts.

OBJECTIVES

➢ recognizing the possibility of creating a macro-regional European Union Strategy for the Carpathians

➢ promotion of multi-level management to develop a macro-regional EU Strategy for the Carpathian region

➢ focusing on the role of local and regional authorities to promote sustainable development

Initiatives for the Carpathian StrategyC

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European Parliament, European Commissionresolutions, conclusions, reports

European Committee of the Regions,

Carpathian Group, opinions on macro-regional strategies

Member States

memoranda, declarations, consultations, parliamentary and government initiatives

Civil society and NGOs

meetings, contacts, implementation of small projects

Regional and local authorities

forums, good neighborly meetings, participation in joint projects, joint initiatives, events

• tool for achieving territorial cohesion• a bottom-up tool activating entities at

various levels of government as well as civil society, science and culture institutions, and economic partners

• tool for shaping European solidarity• they allow you to focus on selected

aspects and territories• dynamizing development processes at

the local and regional level• undertaking common problems and

comprehensive task solving• an instrument of multilevel governance

Macro-regional strategies

Opinion on Macro-regional Strategy for the Carpathian Region

25 June 2019 Appointment of Władysław Ortyl as rapporteur on the opinion on the

macro-regional Strategy for the Carpathian region

24 September 2019 Deadline for submitting the draft opinion to the COTER secretariat

before send-out to translation (in case of a 10 standard pages of 1.500

characters document including footnotes, spaces excluded)

10 October 2019

17 October 2019

Deadline to table amendments:

- For the members amendments

- for the rapporteur (Rapporteur's amendments)

23 October 2019

(Brussels)

Discussion and adoption of the draft opinion in COTER

19 November 2019 Deadline to table amendments: no amendments

4/5 December 2019 Adoption of the draft opinion in COR plenary

(adopted on 4th of December)

Stakeholders consultations and bilateral meetings

▪ The Carpathians are the second largestmountain system in Europe after the Alps.

▪ Homogeneous mountain range with uniquegeographical and natural conditions.

▪ Territorial coverage: Czech Republic, Hungary,Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Serbia andUkraine.

▪ Area: 190,000 km2.

▪ Width from 100 to 350 km.

▪ Mountain chain length about 1500 km.

▪ Population around 68 million.

•

Macro-region

Recommendations for the Carpathian Strategy

• recognition of the strategy as a mature, well-developed initiative taken at all levels of government

• increasing the possibilities of joint planning and conducting „tailor-made” activities

• response to the need to expand and deepen cooperation between regional and local states and communities in the Carpathian region

• meeting the expectations of residents of countries remaining outside EU structures

• tool for promoting European values the need for European Union accession to the Carpathian Convention as a Party

• calls on the European Commission to support the initiative to create a macro-regional strategy for the Carpathian region as a further macro-regional strategy

• The strategy for the Carpathian area will complement the activities undertaken under the existing Danube Strategy, taking into account the specificity of the Carpathian mountain area

• acknowledging the positive impact of the Carpathian Convention, the importance of its objectives and their convergence with the EU's priorities, calls on the European Commission to take action towards the EU joining this Convention as a party

Carpathian Convention in European Committee of the Regions’s opinion

• commends the actions undertaken to implement the 2003 Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention) which is a multi-party international agreement on the Carpathian region established on treaty principles of international law. The parties to the convention are obliged to cooperate and pursue comprehensive policy for protection and sustainable development of the Carpathian region, also taking into account objectives and provisions of the Convention in their own sectoral policies (for example, concerning spatial planning, agriculture, forestry, transport and tourism), better coordination of these policies and applying integrated approach principles to management of land resources;

• notes that the Carpathian Convention is a multi-sectoral management mechanism covering the Carpathian region that enables inter-sectoral integration and widespread participation of stakeholders from various levels (national, regional, non-governmental, etc.) The multi-level cooperation standards that have been developed and have resulted in five thematic protocols on the Carpathian Convention can be used as an important part of further cooperation

Carpathians

geopolitically important area - the eastern border of the European Union

exceptional endogenousresources : • rich biodiversity• high tourist attractiveness• cultural heritage• Human resources•shared identity and experience of history

area of potential development opportunities

space for supra-regionalintegration

▪ Distance from European centres.

▪ Historically conditioned border barriers gradually leveled.

▪ Potential of centuries-old neighbourhood of the Carpathian regions' societies.

▪ Low GDP per capita compared to the EU average.

▪ Ongoing process of economic transformation.

▪ Weakness of communicationconnections.

▪ Deficiencies in infrastructureresources.

▪ Common climate challenges.

▪ Untapped potential for economic cooperation.

Barriers - challenges

A wealth of biodiversity

http://www.carpathianparks.org/map.html

• "Eastern Carpathians" International Biosphere Reserve

• 36 national parks - area 11,000 km2• 51 landscape parks - 19,000 km2• 200 other forms of protection• one of the most important predator

refuges • an important center of endemism• pan-European ecological corridor• only 16% of the area outside forms of

protection

Multiculturalism• unique Carpathian culture

• Hiking trai; and settlementwaves

• area of nomadic pastoral economy

• crossing of East and West influences

• transport routes from South to North

Cultural heritage

Material and intangible:

• architectural monuments

• numerous objects from the UNESCO World Heritage List

• regional customs

• unique art and handicraft

• traditional music

• local ways of householdsmanagement

Competitive CarpathiansStrengthening economic cooperation

•Development of clean industries•Sustainable tourism development•Increasing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector•Development of a macro-regional innovation ecosystem

Examples of projects: Carpathian "green industry" incubator, Carpathian tourist card”, Carpathian quality mark for regional products,Carpathian Technology Transfer Platform -development of ICT products.

Green CarpathiansHigh quality of the natural environment

•Protection and rational management of natural resources•Diversification of energy sources•Environmental risk and natural hazards management

Examples of projects: Development and protection of cross-border ecological corridors in the Carpathians, Support for stakeholders in the transition to renewable energy sources, Macro-regional strategy for adaptation to climate change.

Coherent Carpathians

Increasing the functional availability of the Carpathians.

•Increasing the transport accessibility of the Carpathians, •Increasing the digital availability of the Carpathians, •Development of the e-services system.

Examples of projects: Transport on demand, Map of internet access in the Carpathian Mountains, Development of e-services in the tourism sector in the Carpathians.

Thank you

Justyna RógRepresentation of the Podkarpackie Region

in Brussels